A memento from Oakland Community College will go to the frontiers of space in August when astronaut and 2003 OCC Outstanding Alumnus Andrew Feustel joins a seven-member NASA crew to make repairs on the orbiting Hubble Telescope.

OCC interim Chancellor Clarence Brantley suggested that the college's students and employees be asked for proposals about a suitable item that might be sent on the trip. Along with such predictable suggestions as OCC flags and pennants, one contributor, bookstore manager Lisa Moore, humorously proposed an OCC-marked eyeglass cleaning cloth that could be used to polish Hubble's lens.

Reisman, a New Jersey native, brought up dirt from the Yankee Stadium pitcher's mound with him to the space station.

Now, the Mets don't want to be outdone by the Yankees -- so they have given the home plate from Shea Stadium to astronaut Mike Massimino, who will fly on the shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope later this year. Massimino is trying to figure out how to pack home plate on Atlantis, which is complicated because it's larger than the lockers in which the astronauts carry their personal items for the entire mission.

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Mike Massimino (a longtime N.Y Mets fan) and fellow STS-125 spacewalker Mike Good were interviewed this evening during the Mets-Astros game in Houston.

Massimino indicated that they will be taking home plate from Shea Stadium with them this October on their flight to Hubble.

Space shuttle Atlantis landed in Florida Tuesday, nine days after touching down in California and completing the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Lowered from atop NASA's modified Boeing 747 that ferried it for the cross-country journey, Atlantis is now inside its processing facility, giving technicians their first chance at unpacking the orbiter.

On-board, they'll find a wide variety of items to be taken out before Atlantis can fly again. There's Hubble's longest serving camera, replaced during the mission, as well as the original "eyeglasses" that were installed to correct for the telescope's flawed mirror. Inside the crew cabin they'll find two basketballs, a baseball stadium's home plate and hundreds of patches designed by a "Star Trek" artist.

What they won't find, but what NASA's original plans first envisioned, is the Hubble Space Telescope itself.

Robert Pearlman

University of Chicago release

Astronaut shoots Hubble basketball in orbit

NASA astronaut and University of Chicago alumnus John Grunsfeld, SM'84, PhD'88, photographed a vintage Edwin Hubble basketball Tuesday on the space shuttle Atlantis, with the Hubble Space Telescope visible through the portholes.

"Broke out the b-ball today before HST release," Grunsfeld wrote in a May 19 e-mail to Michael Turner, the Bruce and Diana Rauner Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Grunsfeld and three of his crewmates successfully upgraded the Hubble telescope during five spacewalks this week.

Hubble, SB, 1910, PhD, 1917, was a star basketball player at the University of Chicago before he became a famed astronomer. Hubble and his fellow Maroons posted a score of 18-12 with the game ball in a 1909 victory over Indiana University.

Globetrotters journey where no other basketball team has gone before, with team basketball aboard NASA's fifth and final mission to Hubble Space Telescope

The world-renowned Harlem Globetrotters, who have already left their indelible mark on 120 countries and six continents during their 83 years of touring, have expanded their historic travels to outer space.

The Globetrotters became the first basketball team to send a ball to the Hubble Space Telescope when they launched an authentic Spalding Harlem Globetrotters ball on board the space shuttle Atlantis on May 11 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as part of NASA's fifth and final shuttle mission to the Hubble.

The shuttle touched down Monday, May 25 at an alternate landing spot in Calfornia after its return from a successful mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble was delayed for three days due to poor weather.

After 12 days, 21 hours and 37 minutes in flight, the shuttle - with its crew of seven astronauts and the Globetrotter ball - landed at an air base 100 miles north-east of Los Angeles. Nasa had earlier cancelled landing efforts at Cape Canaveral in Florida, where weather conditions remained threatening after earlier storms.

The team's signature red, white and blue ball, a Globetrotters' staple since 1985, accompanied the Atlantis crew on their mission to service the 19-year-old observatory, which orbits 350 miles above the Earth.

"It is only fitting that the team that has seen more of the world than any other in history would have a presence beyond the stratosphere," stated Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider. "This Globetrotter basketball will serve as an intergalactic symbol of accomplishment."

NASA has taken pieces of historical and pop culture significance on an array of voyages in their 50-plus-year history. The Wright Flyer got only a few feet off the ground during its maiden flight in 1903, but wood and fabric from the Flyer was carried to the moon 66 years later by Apollo 11. A lightsaber prop used by Mark Hamill in his role as Luke Skywalker in "Return of the Jedi" was taken on Discovery's trip to the International Space Station in October 2007. And, of course, there are the two golf balls that astronaut Alan Shepard carried to the moon on Apollo 14 in 1971 and hit with a makeshift club.

Soon the Globetrotter basketball will be placed in the team's exhibit at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where the Globetrotters are one of only six teams ever to be inducted.

Mission Specialist Mike Massimino, who has been working to repair the Hubble telescope, took a replica of the Barbed Wire Mezuzah by San Francisco artist Aimee Golant with him into space to honor Ilan Ramon, who carried the original mezuzah in the space shuttle Columbia. Ramon and the entire crew were killed in the Columbia disaster in 2003.

Today Astronaut John Grunsfeld will launch one last time into space on a repair mission for the Hubble Telescope. Along on this mission is an antique camera once owned by the famous mountain photographer, Bradford Washburn. A friend to Washburn, Mr. Grunsfeld is taking the 1929 Zeiss Maximar B 4x5 on its last trip, for its last pictures.

The camera was one of Washburn's "pocket" cameras used to document some of his most important mountain images. Not only is Washburn considered a historic figure in the alpine climbing arenas, but he is considered one of the most important landscape photographers of the 20th century.

"Brad lived just a tremendous life he is one of my heroes and during the 1920s did just an fantastic number of tremendous climbs all over. As part of that he started pioneering the use of cameras from airplanes...I definitely plan to take some pictures of Hubble with the Zeiss camera but also of mountains which I know Brad would appreciate." - John Grunsfeld - Lead Astronaut on Hubble Space Mission

John Grunsfeld is a life-long member of the American Alpine Club (AAC) and the lead astronaut on the Hubble Telescope mission. After contacting the AAC, Grunsfeld agreed that taking Brad's oldest and most important cameras with him on a mission to repair the camera on the Hubble Telescope would be a great gesture in remembrance of his friend.

The Bradford Washburn Camera belongs to the American Alpine Club and upon its return will be on display at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum in Golden, CO. Starting June 9th the Mountaineering Museum will open an exhibit showcasing some of Brad's photographic prints from his favorite personal collection. This collection is on permanent loan to the American Alpine Club at the AAC Library.

Singer/Songwriter/Worship Leader Matt Maher received an out-of-this-world honor when his album Empty & Beautiful (4/8/08) was a carry-on item for astronaut Mike Good on NASA Mission STS-125. Astronaut Good took Matt's music for inspiration on his journey to the Hubble Space Telescope. Space shuttle Atlantis launched on Servicing Mission 4, the final astronaut visit to the Hubble Space Telescope May 11th and returned May 24th, using the 13-day mission to install new instruments, upgrade technology and prepare the telescope for many more years of cosmic exploration.

"I wanted you to know that I was praying for you and your band while orbiting above God's beautiful creation," wrote NASA astronaut Mike Good in an e-mail to Matt Maher after returning to Earth. "I flew the CD you gave me (Empty & Beautiful) back at Johnson Space Center and enjoyed listening to you guys on orbit on my iPod. It was awesome looking out into space and back at Earth while listening to your beautiful music - really inspiring."

This mission marked the second time that Maher's music visited the cosmos. In June 2008 astronaut Ron Garan orbited the earth on NASA Mission STS-124 with Empty & Beautiful.

Robert Pearlman

NASA release

NASA Presents Coins Flown in Space to National Federation of the Blind

During a ceremony July 31, senior NASA officials will present the National Federation of the Blind with two Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollars that flew on space shuttle Atlantis's mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2009. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, will accept the coins on behalf of the organization. The ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. EDT at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington.

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birthday, Congress authorized the minting of the 2009 Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar. NASA flew one proof and one uncirculated commemorative coin on the recent Hubble servicing mission. The coins are the first to feature tactile, readable Braille, which enables the blind to read and learn, just as Hubble allows people to learn about the universe.

NASA astronaut Gregory H. Johnson will speak at the celebratory closing of the National Federation of the Blind's 2009 Youth Slam. At the Youth Slam, 200 blind high school students from across the nation will participate in five days of activities to help encourage the blind youth of America to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

NASA and the National Federation of the Blind have been collaborating for more than five years to inspire and engage blind students to lend their unique talents to disciplines critical to the nation's engineering, scientific and technical missions.